ARTSBEAT; Ex-Manager Harassed Leonard Cohen, Jury Says

By DAVE ITZKOFF

Published: April 14, 2012

Everybody knows it's not uncommon for fans of Leonard Cohen's to become fixated on him and his romantic if sinister music. But a jury has decided that a former business manager of that Canadian singer-songwriter harassed him by sending him hundreds of e-mails and voicemail messages that at times left him feeling threatened, The Associated Press reported.

Mr. Cohen stopped working with the former manager, Kelley Lynch, in 2004, and had obtained a court order for her to stop contacting him. The case against Ms. Lynch, decided Thursday in a Los Angeles court, centered on messages that she sent the singer between February 2011 and January of this year, which prosecutors said made Mr. Cohen's life ''a complete and utter living hell,'' according to The A.P.

Jury members were played several messages that Ms. Lynch left for Mr. Cohen, using obscene language and at times describing him as her enemy. In testimony on Tuesday, Mr. Cohen said he had found the messages increasingly alarming. '' 'Cohen is going to be hung' is not agreeable to hear,'' he told jurors.

Lawyers for Ms. Lynch said Mr. Cohen had a sexual relationship with her, which the singer acknowledged but did not mention in a pretrial hearing. Mr. Cohen said he had a ''brief intimate relationship'' with Ms. Lynch but it was not romantic and that millions of dollars had gone unaccounted for while she represented him.

Ms. Lynch was convicted on two counts of leaving or sending harassing or obscene messages and five counts of violating a restraining order, all misdemeanors, and could face up to five years in jail, The A.P. said.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.